Debottlenecking will lift capacity by 20,000tpa

Thermoplastic elastomer group Kraton Polymers is increasing production capability for unhydrogenated styrenic block copolymers (USBC) through debottlenecking work at its European plants. The US company said it will add 20,000tpa of USBC capacity at its plants located in the Netherlands, Germany and France. It said this was in response to rising demand from customers around the world. In April the company announced it would build a 30,000tpa USBC plant in the Asia Pacific region for start-up in 2009 (PRW.com 20 April 2006). The new European capacity is scheduled to come online by April 2007. Kraton vice president of global operations, David Bradley, said: “We continue to generate significant USBC capacity gains through low-cost debottlenecks. The successful incorporation of Lean Six Sigma techniques into our operations, coupled with our ability to leverage knowledge across our manufacturing facilities around the world has proven to be a powerful combination.”